11 August 2012

Let me tell you how it will be,
There’s one for you, nineteen for me,
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

In 2009, according to the Congressional Budget Office,
the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers actually had an average individual
income tax rate of -9.3 percent (that's right, negative 9.3 percent),
whereas the top 1 percent paid an average of 21 percent.

By Phillip Klein

Obama has long argued in favor of raising
taxes on higher earners. And as the debt debate gathered steam in
Washington, Obama increasingly tried to point the finger at wealthier
taxpayers for failing to pay their "fair share." He went on repeatedly
about tax breaks for corporate jet owners and hedge fund managers, and
of course about Warren Buffett.

"Right now, because of loopholes and shelters
in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than
millions of middle-class households," Obama said during this year's
State of the Union speech. "Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax
rate than his secretary."

In some of the most debated lines of this
year's campaign, Obama said at a campaign stop last month that, "If
you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that
happen." Much of the dispute centered around whether or not he meant
that entrepreneurs didn't build their businesses, or that they didn't
build roads and bridges. But even assuming that he was simply referring
to the fact that government helps create the conditions for
entrepreneurs to succeed, we're still left with the fact that Obama made
the argument in the context of calling for higher taxes on wealthier
Americans. He praised those wealthier Americans who wanted "to give
something back."

The suggestion is that under the current tax
code, wealthier Americans aren't giving back enough to cover all of the
benefits government has bestowed upon them.

By hammering out such arguments, day after
day, Obama is leaving Americans with the impression that the tax code is
rigged in favor of the wealthy. He's promoting the idea that those with
money receive huge handouts from the government, as middle class
Americans are left to pick up the tab.

Enter the Tax Policy Center.

Last week, the
think tank (a joint venture of the liberal-leaning Urban Institute and
Brookings Institution), released a study poking holes in Romney's tax
plan. The proposal calls for cutting individual tax rates by 20 percent
across the board and recouping lost revenue by getting rid of various
loopholes and deductions within the tax code.

Though Romney hasn't
identified which provisions he'd eliminate, the Tax Policy Center made
certain assumptions and concluded that it would be mathematically
impossible for him to achieve his plan without instituting an effective
tax hike on lower income Americans -- which would violate another Romney
pledge.

Though conservatives have presented a number
of critiques of the study, assume for the sake of argument that it is
accurate.

The study's conclusion rests on the fact that middle and lower
income groups benefit greatly from tax loopholes, deductions and
credits. Its headline finding is that taxpayers with incomes of under
$200,000 who have children would pay an average of $2,000 more in taxes
for Romney's plan to work.

How is this possible? First, because Romney's
tax cut doesn't go as far for lower earners, who have a relatively low
income tax liability to start with. But more importantly, it's the lower
earners who benefit from provisions such as the earned income tax
credit (which is refundable) and the per-child tax credit.

In this way, the tax code is stacked in favor
of lower earners. In 2009, according to the Congressional Budget Office,
the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers actually had an average individual
income tax rate of -9.3 percent (that's right, negative 9.3 percent),
whereas the top 1 percent paid an average of 21 percent.

If Obama is going to make the Tax Policy
Center study a major part of his campaign, he should stop pretending
that the current tax code is rigged against the lower-income Americans
to the benefit of the wealthy.

Taxman - The Beatles

Let me tell you how it will be,
There’s one for you, nineteen for me,
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Don’t ask me what I want it for
(Haha! Mister Wilson!)
If you don’t want to pay some more
(Haha! Mister Heath!),
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

Now my advice for those who die, (Taxman!)
Declare the pennies on your eyes, (Taxman!)
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
And you’re working for no-one but me.